 This video is a companion to the Crosscut Saw portion of the Chainsaw and Crosscut Saw training program. This program is intended for A and B Sawyer certification. My name is Don Jastad and I'm here to discuss the Crosscut Saw. It played an important part of my life. I learned to fall timber with my grandfather. On springboards the Crosscut Saw and an axe and everybody in my era, the kids, we all had to cut firewood with the Crosscut Saw. The chainsaws weren't around so I've got a pretty good background in it. It played an important part in history. It was part of the reason that we have a country. We used the Crosscut Saw and the axe to fall the trees to make the lumber. The golden era was between 1880s and 1930s and that's when the Crosscut Saw and an axe really shone. Clearing trails is really important in the backcountry. A lot of the areas like the wilderness areas, you can't use the chainsaw. So this solves the problem. They're a great tool. Everybody should have one. In fact, no home should be without one, really. The focus of this program is how to use the Crosscut Saw safely and effectively. It's a supplement to classroom instruction and fieldwork and it's very important to be certified. This is a bucking saw. It's important to understand how it cuts. They have two rakers and four cutters. And this particular one is a perforated lance tooth. It has a reinforcement between two of these cutters. What happens is the teeth are offset slightly and sharpened so when they go down the cut of the log, they score the wood and the rakers come back and they're chisel-like. There's just a lot of nice ribbon that we call them noodles. And when you're sawing with a good saw, it's really quite a thrill. There's just like saws that sing. It has two holes in each end, a straight back and it's heavier. It still has the same type of arc on the teeth as the felling saw. But they are designed specifically for bucking. That's why they're heavy. The straight back is designed to add more weight to the saw. It makes it easier for the bucker when he's bucking logs to get more control of it. And they're stiffer. Let's compare the one person bucking saw to the two person bucking saw. The one person bucking saw has a D-handle on one end along with a supplemental handle. Or you can use a supplemental handle on the other end to make it basically a temporary two man bucking saw. The two person bucking saw has two holes in each end for the handles. It also has a symmetrical curve to the teeth. And it's very, very, very beneficial to the controlling the saw in the wood. This is a felling saw. It has a one hole in each end. It has an arc to the back. It's lighter. And it's a lot easier to carry in the woods. It's designed specifically for falling timber. Because of the arc in the back you can drive wedges in without worrying about hitting the back and just damaging it. The field crew would choose a bucking saw over a felling saw because it's stiffer and heavier. And can be used by two people or one person. Select the right tool for the job. While I'm heading out in the woods, I've got a bunch of living, brushing, bucking and felling to do. So I'm going to choose a crosscut saw in an axe. Those are the best tools. Ensure your safety and the safety of your coworkers by being prepared. Before heading out to do crosscut work you will need a job hazard analysis, an emergency evacuation plan, an approved first aid kit and personal protective equipment and clothing. While long sleeve shirts and chaps are required for chainsaw work, they are optional for crosscut saw work. A crosscut saw is always used in conjunction with other tools. Axes and pilaskies, wedges, bucking aids, lubricants and solvents and shovels. Good work techniques involve safety, planning and physical ability. Be sure to take what you need. When transporting saws, sheath them to protect them from being damaged or causing injury. You got Guinevere, can you hand her to me? Use care when passing a saw to another person. What else can I take, Jeff? Bucking is cutting logs. Every log is different and every log has something to teach you. Whether you use a chainsaw or crosscut saw, the same principles apply. Situational awareness of the hazards associated with bucking is critical. Before you start cutting, look up, look down, look all around. As we approach this work site, this looks like a fairly straightforward operation. We're just going to try and drop this tree down into the drainage. Really important not to get too focused on that fact. What we need you to do first is take a good look overhead and make sure everything looks okay from where I'm standing. This looks like a good site. I'm not seeing any problems overhead, but it's really important to make sure that you walk all around the work site so that you don't miss anything. I'm going to come in here a little farther, take another look around and look up here. We have an incredible widowmaker. Maybe at the road we thought it was a good idea to work on this end of the log. There's no way we're going to work under this. We'll either work on the other end of the log or we'll just leave this one because this is such an incredible safety hazard. Analyze each cut carefully before you start. Each bucking situation is different, but they all have inherent risks. Only begin bucking procedures after mitigating hazards in the immediate area such as spring poles. Begin each cut by positioning your body correctly. Stay clear of the offside where the log might move when you cut it. There are three basic cuts. The straight cut. The compound cut. And the offset cut. Removing bark will help keep the saw sharp. What I'm going to do is to center my saw exactly where I want it to be. I want it to be in a nice straight up and down plane. I'm just going to guide it. And then I want to try and use all of the blade that I can. It's a waste of energy just to be using a little piece in the center. Sometimes it's a little bit harder to see from the side if the saw is perfectly vertical but you're better off to be sawing from the side because you can use a good rocking motion from the hips. This is a beautiful cutting saw. You can see really nice chips coming out with it. The objective of this is just to have a slow easy rhythm. We're not killing snakes. I'm going to keep lubricating this as I go along just because I can feel the pitch in this tree. This is one of those saws that all you have to do is sort of put it in the kerf and it does the sawing. Binds are directional pressures exerted in different areas of logs. There are top binds, bottom binds, side binds, and end binds. Often a log has more than one kind of bind. Your safety depends on knowing how to read binds. Do not expect to always read binds correctly. Here's our next project. It looks like we've got a little top bind on this. It's suspended off the ground and it looks like we're going to need to do a compound cut on this. We're going to need to move the log away. I think if we do one cut right about here trying to avoid these big knots that will really slow us down so if we can cut between these knots and then another cut up in here to avoid the knots then we can roll this log out, pivot it on that bush and it will be out of our way. It's already been prepped for us so we're ready to go. Let's go ahead and start right in. I'm pretty good right there. I look good here. Let's go ahead and give it a start. Pretty punky log. It's going to be hard to start with all this rotten wood in there. That kerf is opening up nice. Let's go ahead and put some bark underneath so that our teeth don't hit the ground when things close up here. Got it. There we go. Okay, you clear? I'm clear. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and roll this under this bush. Okay, clear below. It looks like we need to cut a few sections out of this one, huh? Okay. The first thing I do whenever I'm going to cut a tree is I walk the whole length of it. When I walked down to that end, I saw a root wad lodged in the ground pretty well. I don't think it's going to spring back up on us. Okay. And when I walk down to that end, I see that it's suspended on the bank. And it's leaned against this green tree. That could cause some sidebind. We won't really know until we watch the kerf as we cut. Okay. But I think we'll make our first cut in here. And as we get in a little ways that top bind is going to cause the kerf to pinch our saw a little bit. What else do you see here? I guess we just need to talk about our escape routes. We've already looked around and made sure we don't have any aerial hazards. What do you think about escape routes? Well, I like how we've cleared this out so we can move our feet freely. We'll only have one person nearby when the cut goes through. And I want to be able to take a few steps backward without tripping on stuff. I think we're ready to start sawing then. Sounds like it to me. Yeah. You want to get on that side? You're the tall guy. Everything's relative, right? I'm clear of knots underneath here. Okay, there are no knots under here. So what would your choice be? Maybe like 15 degrees off if you could get away with it? Yeah. But you know, since it's going to drop so far, I'd go on and cut this straight and put our angle on the other side. And this is going to drop enough it shouldn't cause us any trouble. Let's do a little air saw to get it started. Looks like you're pulling straight. How do I look? Looks good. Good. You want a little lube? That sounds good. And I usually just lube it right in the cut. And do we want to be taking as long a stroke as possible? I sure do. I want to use the whole saw. I like standing beside the saw and pulling it across the front of my body. If you stand behind it, you can't use your legs. Looks like we can get a wedge started. Okay. And so why do you put the first one in the very center in the top? Well, I've got the most clearance from the saw that way and the most leverage to hold the kerf open. But once we get a little farther in, I'm going to put them at 10 and 2 o'clock because the sidebind wants to move the log this way or that and pinch the saw. Sounds good. Good. A little creaking. I'm hearing a little creaking too. You always got to watch that kerf and keep your ears open. Come on and tighten that wedge and put in a couple more. I have the saw. All right. I sure hate to pinch it. That takes the fun out of the day. Well, it looks like we've got a little sidebind because the kerf's opening up. I didn't expect that, but that's what you learn as you watch the kerf while you're cutting. I'm going to put in these hanging wedges to try to hold things a little bit still while we cut. Is your kerf opening up too? Yes, it is. Or is it just pushing this way? No, it's mine's opening up also. All right. What we'll want to watch is make sure there's not a lot of movement and decide which one of us should get out of the way so the other can finish the cut. It almost looks like your kerf might be a little bit wider than mine. You know, that's what I'd expect with that tree pushing it this way. You know, I'm going to let you finish this one. I don't really want to stand here with this sidebind popping this thing towards me. And I feel comfortable here because if anything, this end is going to swing out towards you and this end is going to be steady. Saw's yours. Dolly, how much of the saw's coming through? About 18 inches. It's really cracking and opening up but those hanging wedges you put in are really keeping it from rotating. Well good. Sometimes when I don't have them I'll just swing an axe and set the blade across the kerf here so we can roll this piece out of the way downhill. Okay. But I want it to be able to roll freely that direction and I want it to be able to drop out. So we'll have to cut a compound angle. Okay. Let's put the saw cross and line up that compound angle. Now this would be straight across. Okay. So first let's orient our angle this way. Okay. About like that. And then the second angle we're looking for is this way. So we'll tilt it like that. It's unnatural to hold the handles of a saw angled like that but we'll just have to remember to do it. Okay. Always put in a wedge for good luck starting to open. I think I should probably finish it. Probably got about 7 inches on my side. Time to stop for just one sec. Oh hey thanks. Let's see if we can pivot this a little bit and roll it down the hill. Make sure no one is down below and shout out a warning before the log rolls. In some cases you might use a stump as a pivot point to redirect the cut section off a trail. Well John let's take care of this one. I want to cut here but gosh maybe let's just do this one person style. I don't want to have anybody downhill from this. Okay. Yeah I don't think I'd want to be downhill when you were sawing. No. I'm going to move the handle up to the other end of the saw. This log just has a little bit of bottom bind because it's hanging out in the air. The compression is on the bottom. It's going to be tension on the top as I saw so the cut's going to open up. I shouldn't even need a wedge so I'm just going to go on and saw right through. The cut's opening up a little bit. Before the log rolls down the hill be sure and shout a warning. Okay John we've got this tree here we've got to get rid of and this looks like a pretty complicated one. We've got a couple of different binds on it it looks like from being wedged between these two trees and then this whole trunk length here. Looks like it's got some side bind which looks like it wants to go your way and these are some of the most dangerous to deal with I think because they're pretty unpredictable and they can release faster than we expect. So we'd have a lot of compression on this side with a lot of tension over here. Yes and so we're going to have to relieve that tension and try to get it to lay down on the ground pretty flat. We also have a lot of top bind on it so we might have to finish up with an underbuck but to start this off we're going to need to cut here first to relieve this and then come in and probably underbuck and it's going to want to push your way and it might change as we get farther into the log. Let's make sure that we watch that really close we're going to have to watch our curves real close make sure we don't pinch on this. A couple other things when I was cleaning this log up notice we've got a spring pull here we're going to have to get rid of that that could really come back and hurt us. I've got another one right here and this one's bent over it's got a lot of tension on it and we can take one out with an axe and take one out with a saw just for practice. So what are we going to do about escape routes here? Okay escape routes you've got a nice clear zone behind you so I'll move straight out that way make sure you get far enough in case this rolls at any of these branches over here don't come over and get you. My escape route will be right behind me here I've got a good clean zone behind me I'll get into that. Okay if you want to work on this one take this spring pull out I'll get the saw out and we can take this one out with a saw. I'm just making a bunch of cuts on this underside to relieve this tension. Your spasal cuts out about every six inches. See I can finish it up with the axe. Let's go ahead and take a few swipes here and see what the trees wants to do. Okay it doesn't look like the kerf's moving at all. Okay let's go ahead and roll it up over the top. Okay let's just go slow and see how the kerf's working. Okay let's go ahead and take the saw out. Okay now let's underbuck it and I'll take this on my way. Okay let's do an offset cut here but before... Which side are we going to make our offset into? Let's go to your left. I'll go ahead and put a couple wedges in here. So let's go about an inch up to the side there. Okay you ready? Okay I'm about even. No I have a ways to go. Typically a log with endbine is lying flat on the ground on a slope. It will be less likely to roll when it is cut. Escape routes still need to be identified. A compound cut will be needed. Usually the first cut is high on the log to reduce weight. This reduces compression on the lower part of the log but each situation should be assessed carefully. Use wedges as necessary to keep the saw from binding. Axes can also be used to keep the kerf open. Even experienced sawers can misread binds. They were expecting endbine but notice the wedges dropping as the kerf opens. This indicates this was in fact bottom bind. Clear below. Safety considerations for felling are the same for chainsaws and crosscut saws. Stand back and examine the area. Look at more than the tree you will be felling. Situational awareness is critical for felling. Crosscut saws are quiet so hearing protection is not required. You can hear what the tree is doing. This is an added safety bonus. Solid trees sound different from rotten trees. Felling requires special training. Certification is based on skill and ability. Sawyers are certified as A, B or C level. If felling of particular tree looks dangerous, don't cut it. Experienced sawers know their limits. First, size up the tree. What species of tree is it? Each species has unique characteristics. Some trees may look healthy on the outside but are rotten on the inside. Sounds kind of squishy, huh? Yeah, I think this tree is too rotten to bring down. What would be the biggest problem, Jeff? Just that we don't have any good hinge wood so we just couldn't direct the fall. Once we cut through, it's going to do whatever it wants to do. The wood is not solid enough to control the tree as it falls. I just think it's too dangerous to take down right now. Do we really need to take this tree down? I don't think under these circumstances we should. I think this tree is too dangerous to just flag it off tell our supervisor what we found and walk away from it. Here's our next project, this ponderosa right here. Yeah, this one with a fork top. It's got three tops on it. I don't see any widow makers up there. It doesn't look like these branches are intertwined with this tree next to it. Would you call that a spike top or a pitchfork or is there any special name for that? I'd call that a pitchfork or a three top. Spike tops generally when the top's dead and standing up there by itself. This one here you can see where there's a dead branch coming out in between that right little short one. I've got to watch for that and all those dead branches look like they're holding on there pretty good. Let's take a look at the lean on this. Step back, plum it up. It's pretty straight up and down from here. At a distance, plum the tree at least twice from different locations. Yeah, it shows that bow in the trunk but the top's pretty much straight over the tree. Sitting right over them. So we've determined the primary lean on this tree. Secondary lean that's looking like it still wants to go uphill. From here, it's showing a little bit at side hill. From here, it's looking back this way. From here. Yeah, so primary lean is putting it up here. Secondary is putting it through here. I think we can just lay it right down through here between these two trees. One concern I have here, this is a pretty tall tree. It's going to have a lot of speed coming through these trees if we get too close to either of these trees we're going to have a lot of debris flying. I'm going to strip a lot of stuff off. There's a lot of dead on that one. Yep, there's a lot of dead branches up there. This one has a lot of dead branches on it. It's not something we have to be concerned about. You feel comfortable doing that? Sounds good. You're good. You're good. No sign of any vibration or anything coming out of it, Jeff. Tree sounds pretty solid. Let's go ahead and take the bark off it and get our face cut figured out. Do you want me to clean out the lay a little bit and work on the escape routes? Yeah, why don't you walk out the lay? We've got one stump here. I think we're going to be down to the side of it a little bit. There's another stump here. There's a pretty good berm of dirt here which may catch it and flip stuff up. Beyond that, there's just a little bit of slash out here. Yeah, I might clear a little bit of this out. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and work on the escape routes. Locate safety zones at least 20 feet away, preferably behind large healthy trees or rocks that will provide protection. Escape routes and safety zones must not be directly behind the tree you will cut. Looks like a good spot. Nice and safe behind this tree here. Go ahead and start removing the bark here. Okay, I'm going to take this bark off because it holds a lot of dirt and with these saws you want to keep them as sharp as possible as long as possible. So when we take the bark off that takes all that dirt away, you've got nice clean wood and easier to work with. We'll also be able to see the actual wood, see how firm it is, make sure there's no bugs or anything in it. The horizontal and sloping cuts create the undercut. The direction the tree will fall depends on where you make the first cut, the horizontal one. This cut should be about one third of the tree's diameter. I'm right on my mark. Okay, let's go ahead and gun it. So pull it out. I'm not sure that we're a third of the way through. We're looking like we need to go off your way a little bit. You need to take more on your side. I'm here. Okay. The sloping cut is the second part of the undercut. This cut needs to be at about a 45-degree angle. You don't want the undercut to close until the tree is fully committed to your planned direction of fall. While some sawyers use a cross-cut saw, more experienced sawyers choose an axe, especially when a tree is extremely pitchy. Also, sometimes space is restricted. The saw handles can't be vertical or there's no standing room for another sawyer or for the end of the saw. It looks to me like we need to clean out maybe a little more on this side where we've got a Dutchman going. Oh, we left the Dutchman there. The holding wood is immediately behind the undercut. The sloping cut and the horizontal cut must line up and not cross. When the horizontal and sloping cuts overlap, a Dutchman is formed. The sloping cut must be fixed to remove the Dutchman. If a tree is felled with a Dutchman, the wood can split vertically, creating a hazard called a barber chair when the back cut is made. Felling control will be lost. So what's happened here is I haven't cleaned this face out enough. Left this undercut here and this is called the Dutchman. And what happens if we do our back cut and as the tree starts to tip, this will close up and actually pinch on here, which will raise this side of the tree and then our holding wood will probably fail and we'll lose control of the tree. So what we need to do is get this nice and clean, cut this out, so these corners meet really nicely right here so that that doesn't happen. So I'll get on this side of the tree and finish chopping it out. You've got to be careful with this portion. If you cut too far deep into here, you're cutting your holding wood. So you've got to be really careful when you get close here so you don't sever those fibers because that'll change the dynamics of the tree as you fall it. Let's cut this. Let's make sure we're still on line here. Looks like it's aimed right exactly where you wanted it to go, Jeff. The final cut needed to fell the tree is the back cut. This cut is important for tree positioning and therefore essential for the safety of sawyers. Both sawyers should envision an imaginary rectangle. Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and draw a box here for you so we know where we're at as we're cutting this over and that'll give us our holding wood and our height for our back cut. Okay, my safety zone is down here behind this tree. You're heading that way. I'm heading up behind that one and who's going to take the saw? If you would take the saw because I've got this little stump I've got to negotiate around. So if you could take the saw and head your way and once we start the back cut let's not get behind the tree. I'll do all the wedging from this side. Starting the back cut. Okay, let's get a wedge in there. Okay, ready? Yep. About three quarters of an inch? Yep. Right on. Half an inch. Quarter. Quarter. I'm right on my line. Okay, let me. Okay, we're good. I'll take my handle off if you want to take the saw. Sitting pretty steady. Tree coming down! We were expecting we might get a barber chair because of the heavy lean and the small face cut. You can see that half of our holding wood was under compression and half was under tension and incredible tension. You look at these splinters and these have been pulled out from the middle of the tree under the tension of this tree wanting to fall. It didn't barber chair though. It fell over just like we wanted but it left quite a bit of holding wood. What do you think, Jeff? Do you suppose the tree is split up here in the beginning of a barber chair? I bet you it was really trying hard. If we remove this bark here, I bet you we see a crack that comes quite a ways up this trunk. Yeah. It took a lot of force to pull this out. We can see that it's split. Here's a piece of the wood that's split out the side. I think it was definitely trying to barber chair on us but it just didn't have the chance. And in a barber chair, the tree splits off up high and the butt can shoot back or fall unpredictably from the tower of splinters that are left. That's why that's so dangerous. And we brought this down safely because we understood what dangers there were and we're anticipating them. So this is the fun part is looking at how it all worked. It'd be a waste to just walk away from it and not know. Okay, that's about where the split ends. Someday even you as a Class C faller could cut down this one.